


Intertwined

by thesoundofnat



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Nicknames, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Post-Endgame, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 21:04:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17988503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesoundofnat/pseuds/thesoundofnat
Summary: “Steve, I don’t mean to alarm you, but I think Bucky is trying to seduce me.”(Or, Steve and Tony are a thing and then Bucky comes back and ruins it and settles down with Steve and starts… flirting with Tony too?)





	Intertwined

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote this whole thing for the last scene.
> 
> A bit of Civil War discourse and how I hope things go down after Endgame (aka everyone lives). Nothing super graphic, but the sexual tension is, well, rather high. I’m truly hitting every trope here. Quite a bit of angst in the first half. I hope you enjoy! Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Thank you to pattrochillles on tumblr for reading through the unfinished thing and coming up with ways to make it better!

It was funny. One moment you were getting so close to a guy that you almost considered this a pre-dating, pre-fucking sort of skirting around the subject kind of flirting. The next his old boyfriend or whatever came back from the past and ripped the two of you apart.

Tony didn’t find it funny, though. Not even close.

“ _He’s my friend_.”

“ _So was I_.”

Steve had known Tony was so much more than a friend, once, but it hadn’t been that simple. And apparently reminding him of their bond hadn’t been enough anyway, so Tony was definitely relieved no proper feelings had been brought into the mix.

Truly, no feelings at all, if Steve’s behavior was any indication.

The thing was, no one talked about the time after something big had gone down, whether it had been good or bad. No one talked about how you walked around, weary, restless, unsure of how to act. Of what to do. How all those emotions that had surged through you had left you exhausted. Drained.

Tony fled. He had no other word for it. Went into hiding on an island no one else had access to and licked his not so hypothetical wounds for a while. Only contacting Rhodey and Pepper to tell them he was alive, still.

And then they needed him back. Quite literally gave him no choice but to return since the world was about to go to shit. Again.

Tony didn’t get a chance to talk to Steve before ending up in space - stranded, having watched almost everyone turn to dust - and as he lay there slowly dying his mind kept telling him that maybe things would’ve been different if he’d only been on Steve’s side.

Which was illogical. Neither of them could have calculated this.

But still.

After they’d defeated Thanos and put everything back in its place and Tony was back on Earth, avoiding anyone became so much trickier, since no one was allowing him to escape this time.

Literally no one was letting anyone out of their sight.

When you were faced with whatever the hell Tony was faced with, you became an expert on never being alone with the person you’d rather run away from. It was quite useful and so fucking obvious.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if the two of you kissed and made up?” Natasha asked him one day, her words having come with no prelude and probably no interlude.

Tony shifted his weight. “What difference would it make? What’s done is done.”

“So stop avoiding him. Both of them. Shake hands and move on, if you don’t think it matters.”

She knew it mattered to him. She knew how much it had hurt him. But she wouldn’t let him act as if everything was all peachy without a challenge. Tony both love and hated her for it.

Tony wasn’t the one who approached them first, though. Apparently Natasha was less patient when it came to the team and had talked to Steve too, or so he assumed.

“Do you think we’re too stubborn for our own good?” was his opening line. Tony hadn’t expected him to beg on his knees for forgiveness, but he really hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about it all either.

Tony crossed his arms, leaning his hip against the kitchen counter. “Depends on the situation.”

“You know what situation I mean.”

“Maybe you should specify.”

Steve winced. Not visibly, but Tony knew his signs. Knew he wished Tony would just accept his words and move on by the way he slumped his shoulders.

Well, too bad, Rogers.

They stared at each other in silence, Steve not having entered the room fully, as if afraid. Tony terrified to move. Still not sure how to act around the man that had once meant so much to him.

Still did, really.

“I realize I might not have acted in the most rational way,” Steve finally said. Not an apology, but a start.

“You don’t regret it,” Tony added, saying what he wasn’t.

“I regret hurting you.”

“But? It was worth it, right? You’d do it again?”

Steve was biting his lower lip, a nervous tic. Looking seconds away from running away. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Well, I didn’t want to get stranded in space, but you know what? I couldn’t control it.”

“Tony.”

“Don’t. I don’t want to hear what you have to say.” He pushed himself away from the counter, wishing he was taller. “Nat said we should shake hands and move on.”  _Kiss and make up_. “Can we just do that?”

“You won’t let me explain?”

“No need. I get why you did what you did.”

“You do?”

“Sure. I just wish you hadn’t.” He held out his hand. “Truce?”

Steve regarded him. “Only if it’s for good.”

“That’s up to you, dollface.” He had no fucking idea why he’d just called him that, but sure. Subtle. Fantastic.

Steve took his hands. They didn’t shake. “I really am sorry, you know.”

“Oh, was that an apology?” Tony felt himself soften. “So am I. Whatever. Let’s never talk about this again.”

He let go, shouldered his way past Steve out of the room, and suddenly things felt a little lighter. Not better. Not easier. Just lighter.

The rest needed time.

* * *

 

“I’m assuming the two of you are on good terms again,” Rhodey mumbled, eyebrows raised as Tony downed the glass of water Steve had randomly brought him.

Tony twirled the glass in his hands. “He can hear you, you know. Super hearing.”

“I don’t really care.”

“Yes. We are. It’s- well, slow. But we’re working on it.”

“Good.”

“Is it?”

“Like you said. Super hearing.”

Tony snorted. “It’s all right. We’re all right.”

“So have you talked to him?”

It took Tony a moment to realize he didn’t mean Steve. “No.”

“Are you going to?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Tones. You know none of this was his fault.”

“Still not too keen on looking my parents’ killer in the eyes, however little control he might’ve had.”

“I get that, but-”

“Look, I- I know he didn’t- it wasn’t-”

“Breathe, Tony.”

“I just can’t look at the person he chose over me right now.”

Rhodey was nodding. “Okay.”

Steve had heard him. Of course he had. Maybe that was for the best. Maybe it would keep him from making the stupid decision to properly introduce them.

Only Barnes apparently had a mind of his own this time around. Funny how that worked.

* * *

 

They held their first proper conversation in Tony’s lab, Bucky having wandered down there without letting him know first, metal arm malfunctioning.

“They say you’re the man to go to for this,” he said, his voice so fucking uncertain Tony felt himself unable to react at first.

“Sure am,” he finally said. “Have a seat. What’s the problem?”

Bucky moved quickly, seating himself within seconds before him. “It’s just… well, not obeying me like it should be.”

Tony hummed, reaching for a screwdriver. “Elaborate.”

“If I go to grab something it might take me a few tries before I’m able to.”

“Got it.”

“You can fix it?”

“Of course. Won’t take too long either.”

“Will it hurt?”

A question so simple and juvenile that Tony had to look at him again. A man that had been through hell and back was worried about this hurting. It… well, Tony wasn’t sure what he was to label his emotions as, but he felt close to tears.

“No,” he said, voice lower than before. “You won’t feel a thing.”

Bucky was chewing on his cheek as Tony set to work. Tony only knew because he had to stop and look at him every other minute or so to make sure it was still okay. To make sure he wasn’t adding to what had already been more than the guy had probably bargained for.

“You’re good at this,” Bucky said after a while. “I mean, I assume. I wouldn’t know.”

Tony huffed out a laugh. “No, you’re right. A whole life of practicing does that to you.”

“Humble.”

“A realist.”

“I’m not sure why they’ve all painted you in such a deceiving light,” Bucky said, moving his fingers when Tony indicated it.

“What do they say?” he asked, even though he knew.

“That you’re conceited.”

“I can be.”

“I think it’s a persona.”

“You do, huh.”

“I know enough about you to know it’s not always easy being Tony Stark.”

“I don’t think it’s so easy being Bucky Barnes either.” He put the screwdriver down. “I guess they got us both wrong.”

Tony really hadn’t expected a strange friendship to form after that night, but he had a quite big record of getting close to the entirely wrong people.

This time it was mostly because he really couldn’t avoid either of them and instead had to watch them fall deeper and deeper in love. A love they probably had never fallen out of. Cool. Not heartbreaking at all.

“You wanna watch a movie with us?”

Tony looked up from his pad, half-empty plate sitting forgotten beside him. “Hmm?”

“Movie. With us. Me and Buck, that is. You in?”

“It depends on the movie, dollface.”

Tony had kept the nickname. Mostly as a joke, but he liked the way Steve’s lips twitched whenever he used it. Maybe he’d use it in front of Bucky one day purely to see his reaction. Maybe he needed a nickname of his own.

Steve grabbed his wrist. “Don’t make me force you.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Will you drag me to the living room?”

“I might carry you.”

“Prove it.”

Tony hadn’t expected him to actually do it, but seconds later he was hanging over the giant’s shoulder, laughing despite himself. Not even able to fake indignation as they journeyed through the rooms.

“He challenged me,” Steve said, and Tony could hear Bucky laugh. “I had to.”

“Maybe you should put him down.”

Tony poked Steve’s shoulder blade. “Yeah, dollface. Put me down.”

“Make me.”

“The blood is going to my head and to be frank I kinda need my brain to be functioning.”

“Not for the movie Steve picked out.”

“Wow. Ganging up on me? Really?”

“Oh no. What movie did you pick?”

“It seems good!”

“It seems horrible.”

Steve dumped Tony on the couch, finally, but mostly to go bicker about the movie with Bucky like an old married couple. Tony wondered if they’d miss him if he left.

“Tony, tell him it’s good.”

Tony glanced at the screen. “I couldn’t say. I haven’t seen it.”

“As good a time to watch it now as ever.”

Tony could picture it. Steve and Bucky sitting side by side, Tony discarded somewhere all on his own. The two of them talking throughout the entire movie and not letting Tony join. Him suffering for two hours purely to appease Steve’s sudden need to hang out.

But they put him in the middle and talked to him too. It was kind of sad how surprised he was by the whole thing.

“I might not know much about acting,” Bucky said, arm and hip and thigh touching Tony’s. “But I would say the acting is awful. Well done, Steve.”

Steve reached over him to give Bucky’s abdomen a slap. “Don’t be a movie snob.”

“Don’t need to be to recognize a lack of talent.”

“Have you guys seen The Room?” Tony asked, not look at either of them. “It’s fucking awful. The script. The acting. All of it. And yet it’s a cult film and loved by many.” He slid down the couch a bit. “Things don’t need to be good to be considered classics.”

Bucky bumped his shoulder into him. “Can we watch it next?”

“Don’t get mad if you don’t like it. I think it’s a movie you appreciate after the experience is over.”

He was so utterly aware of how close they were. Of how good Steve smelled and how badly he wanted to pull him closer. It was strange, though. In his current fantasy they weren’t alone.

They watched the next half hour in silence.

“Is this a common thing?” Bucky asked when, seemingly out of nowhere, the main couple slept with their mutual friend, the three of them doing such a poor job of moaning and grinding and distracting Tony so much he almost didn’t realize Bucky was speaking to him.

“It’s not  _un_ common,” Tony said. “But I don’t think it happens super often. Usually the protocol is to not sleep with someone either of you know unless you want jealousy to get involved.”

Bucky hummed. “So they’re being stupid.”

“Statistically? Yep.”

“Emotionally?” That was Steve.

Tony shrugged. “Depends.”

“On?”

“If they can work it out afterward.”

* * *

 

It was subtle, but Tony was about 99% certain Steve and Bucky were flirting with him. Sometimes separately, which was a whole thing in itself, but mostly together, and he fucking hated them for messing with his head.

He hated himself more for liking it so much.

A comment from Steve sent him back to the era before Bucky was in their lives, and it took Tony a moment to process the fact that these comments shouldn’t be happening anymore.

“What did you say?” he asked, confused. Sure he’d misheard.

Repeating the flirty comment was awkward for both of them, though Tony didn’t mind the timid look that crossed Steve’s face, and at least he knew he hadn’t made it all up.

But.

What the fuck.

They weren’t supposed to be  _doing_ that anymore.

He watched them make breakfast together, moving around each other and handing cups and grabbing bowls and being so disgustingly domestic that Tony wanted to strangle them both. It could partly be because he’d only taken one sip of his coffee so far and they both looked too happy for the hour.

It could very well be for entirely different reasons too.

“You want breakfast, Tony?”

He twirled the cup in his hand. “No thanks.”

“Come on, you have to eat.”

Bucky was more of a mother bear than Steve. It was astounding. “I’ll live.”

He tilted his head at him, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “All right, grump.”

Tony snorted. “Now you need your own nickname. Is Bucky Bear all right? Or do you want something pretty like Steve’s dollface?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Honestly, in this uncaffeinated state? Neither do I.”

“Breakfast it is then,” Bucky decided, setting a bowl of cereal down before him a moment later. “Can’t have you talking nonsense, sugar.”

 _Sugar_. Jesus.

Steve had been silent throughout their entire interaction. Tony refused to look at him.

Bucky grabbed his shoulder, kneading it once. “Eat. You’ll feel more human.”

Tony hummed. “If you say so.”

Bucky pressed his thumb into his skin again. “You’re tense.”

“Life of a mechanic.”

“Someone should take care of that for you.”

Tony gave himself three seconds to change his mind before saying, “Is that an offer?”

“Maybe. Steve’s much better at it than me though.”

Somehow it didn’t feel like a reminder that Bucky was taken. Somehow, it felt like an arrangement.

Tony looked at Steve, finally. “Is that so?”

The emergency alarm started blaring before Steve got to reply. Because of course.

* * *

 

“You know it’s extremely obvious that you’re observing them, right?”

Tony glanced up at Nat. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“You seemed busy.”

“Are you a spy or something.”

She sat next to him on the couch. “Something like that.”

They both watched Steve and Bucky for a moment; the late evening sun giving them a golden tint where they were sitting by the window. Tony wished he could hear what they were talking about, but this was the closest he could get without being overly apparent about it. Not that it mattered. Natasha had him all figured out.

“It’s complicated,” she said, voice so low Tony wasn’t sure she was talking to him.

“Complicated.”

“Everything is.”

“It wasn’t before.”

Nat tilted her head at him, a silent urge to elaborate.

“It used to be as easy as breathing.”

“You’ve done a whole lot to ensure you can breathe easily again, Stark.”

He turned back to them. “My point exactly.”

“What’s your deal, then?” she asked, hand on his arm out of nowhere. “With them, I mean.”

“Them?”

“I can tell it’s not just about Steve anymore.”

“Well, I didn’t have a choice in that, did I?”

“You have a choice in how to proceed.”

“Not with them.”

“They’ve practically wrapped the choice in a bow and handed it to you.”

Tony pointed at her. “This weird metaphorical talk doesn’t work, Romanoff.”

“With you? Yes, it does.”

“Why with me?”

“Because it’s the only way to get you to actually talk about it.”

That woman. Making him both love and hate her with a passion after every interaction.

* * *

 

Bucky was handsome. Tony couldn’t pretend he’d just noticed, but it was the first time it made him ache for something more from those lips. A smile just for him, and then some. It was confusing to say the least.

“They look good together,” he told Rhodey one day. “They’d have pretty babies.”

“Am I supposed to acknowledge what you just said?”

“Nah.”

“Okay.”

Tony finished his coffee. “Just putting it out there.”

“Pretty babies, huh?”

It had been hours since he’d said that, but Tony knew exactly what Bucky was talking about. “Am I wrong?”

“Scientifically speaking?”

“Don’t science a scientist, Barnes.”

Bucky laughed. A lovely sound. “Just wanted to make sure I heard correctly,” he said, hand very deliberately brushing against Tony’s knuckles.

“Fuck your stupid superhearing.”

“Hey now. I can think of much better ways to utilize that term.”

Tony honest to god stumbled over his words after that. Bucky’s smirk was ingrained in his brain. His words affecting entirely different parts.

* * *

 

“Steve, I don’t mean to alarm you, but I think Bucky is trying to seduce me.”

Tony was three days into his sleepless isolation disguised as being productive in the lab when those words left his mouth without his permission.

Steve, looking fully awake despite the fact that Tony had run into him in the early hours of the morning when everyone else was still asleep, raised an eyebrow at him. He didn’t even seem surprised. “In what way?”

Tony shook his head. “He’s just being so- touchy feely, I guess. And saying things I cannot interpret in any other way, but maybe I’m just horny and self centered.”

Steve snorted, his face coloring in a way Tony adored. “Jesus, Tony. Blunt much.”

“Sorry, I forgot I’m speaking to a purist.”

“I’m far from a purist.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You could.”

Tony blinked. “I need you to not speak in riddles, Rogers. Especially now. My mind’s not at its strongest.”

Steve grabbed his wrist and Tony almost had a heart attack until he said, “Time for bed. You might look good in many things, but delirious exhaustion isn’t one of them.”

Tony put his free hand on Steve’s chest. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re flirting with me.”

“Go to bed, Tony.”

“Will you join?”

“Not right now.”

“Shame. You look good after your morning run. All sweaty and almost flushed.”

“Bed. Now.”

Maybe that was for the best, because Tony regretted the whole interaction the moment he woke up that afternoon.

Those two would be the death of him.

“Feeling better?” Steve asked when he walked into the kitchen to find him and Bucky cooking dinner.

“Did everyone else move out of the tower without telling me?” was Tony’s reply. “Because wherever I turn I only see you two. In a literal sense.”

“As opposed to what?” Bucky asked, something dancing in his eyes that made Tony more flustered than he was prepared for.

“Nothing. Shut up.”

“You nervous, Stark?”

“Leave him alone, Buck. He told me he thinks you’re trying to seduce him.”

“So what if I am?”

“I wouldn’t be able to allow you to do that without me.”

“No one’s stopping you from joining, dollface.”

Steve grinned at Tony. “He stole your nickname for me.”

“What are you gonna do about it, sugar?”

Tony was absolutely certain he was still dreaming. “Excuse me,” he said, turned his back to them and left.

* * *

 

They found him in the absolute worst situation he’d ever been in. After rushing down to his lab again, Tony had decided to jump into the task he’d been putting off for days now purely to distract himself, and thus he’d ended up entirely intertwined with the cables he’d been trying to untangle. He honestly didn’t even know  _how_.

Of all the days he’d decided to not use his suit to do something.

They entered after he’d been hanging there for about ten minutes, making the situation worse and worse the more he tried to get loose. They crouched down to get to his level, neither of them speaking for a moment.

Tony finally said, “This doesn’t leave this room.”

Bucky grabbed one of the cords. “How the hell did you end up like this, sugar?”

“Don’t ask. A little help would be nice, though, as much as it hurts my pride to ask.”

Steve and Bucky exchanged glances. “Actually,” Steve started. “I think this is the best time for us to talk about a few things without you running off.”

“You have a tendency to avoid topics that make you uncomfortable,” Bucky added. “Though I reckon we haven’t been entirely outspoken about this either until recently.”

Tony pulled at his trapped arms. “I  _really_ wanna get down from here now please and thank you.”

“Give us a moment.”

“Steve, I swear to god.”

Steve cupped his face. “Please listen. Please.”

Tony swallowed his reply. Hated himself for leaning into the touch.

“Steve,” Bucky said. “You wanna start?”

“What I had with both of you was unfinished,” Steve said, as if this was the easiest thing for him to discuss. “I would like to not go my entire life wondering what would happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I like you, Tony. I like Bucky too.”

Bucky placed his hand behind Tony’s neck. Partly for support. Partly for things Tony couldn’t properly think about. “I like you. And I like Steve. I want you both.”

Tony couldn’t breathe.

“I guess what we want to know is how you feel about this all,” Bucky continued. “I know it’s not been an easy ride, but- well, we would like to try. If you’d let us.”

“No pressure, of course,” Steve said, running his thumb over Tony’s cheek. “I guess we can’t really know, but we get the impression you’re into us both too.”

Tony turned his face away. “Get me out of here.”

“Tony-”

“Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.”

It took them five painfully silent minutes, but Tony was finally able to stand up, kicking the cords away from him with too much force than was necessary.

Steve said, “Tony,” but Tony silenced him with his lips, their teeth clashing hard enough that it hurt, but Tony found he didn’t care. Didn’t have the time to care right now. This kiss was months overdue and Tony was a starving man.

Steve kissed him back hungrily, arms wrapped around him and nails almost digging into his back. As if he’d been just as desperate this entire time. As if there was no one but Tony.

Bucky touched Tony’s lower back from behind and Tony broke the kiss to come face to face with him. “Jealous?”

“More like feeling very left out,” Bucky said, his voice low.

“Come here, then.”

Bucky kissed him slowly, but there was something wild beneath it. Tony was certain he would pick him up and pin him against a wall if Tony asked him to.

Kinda hot. Maybe later. He had a feeling they would do a lot of things later, the three of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://thesoundofnat.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
